"The U.S. government has attempted to obtain the master encryption keys that Internet companies use to shield millions of users' private Web communications from eavesdropping. These demands for master encryption keys, which have not been disclosed previously, represent a technological escalation in the clandestine methods that the FBI and the National Security Agency employ when conducting electronic surveillance against Internet users." Well. "And where once you had the freedom to object, think, and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillence coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission." When quoting a work of fiction befits the state of reality better than reality itself, shit has officially hit the fan.

It's not that I desire total secrecy; if I did, I wouldn't be using and posting this on a public message board right now. I just want people to keep their damn nose out of my business when they have no business peaking in there to begin with. The government, especially, has its own legal procedures--obtaining a warrant through probable cause--which it is supposed to have to go through. It shouldn't just be sucking everything I do up and storing it for later decryption as it wants. That's a blatant violation of the Constitution itself--it is supposed to be protecting us from this kind of government behavior.

When I go to Google and check my Gmail or do a web search over an SSL/TLS connection, I am *not* asking the government to butt in and spy on me. In fact, the encryption specifically means to keep out--no one has any business intercepting the communications on that channel or collecting it for future decryption. The simple fact is, I don't really trust the U.S. government any more than just some random hacker, and they can keep themselves out of the picture.